One in 5 US Adults Use Tobacco

Overall, 15.1% use cigarettes, with higher use among males, older adults, those with lower incomes.

(HealthDay News) -- About one in 5 US adults currently uses any tobacco product, according to a study published online in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Elyse Phillips, MPH, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and colleagues used data from the 2015 National Health Interview Survey to examine the most recent national estimates of tobacco product use among adults. Data were included for 33,672 adults aged 18 years and older.

The researchers found that 20.1% of US adults currently used any tobacco product, 17.6% used any combustible tobacco product, and 3.9% used two or more tobacco products in 2015. By product, 15.1% of adults used cigarettes; 3.5% used electronic cigarettes; 3.4% cigars, cigarillos, or filtered little cigars; 2.3% used smokeless tobacco; and 1.2% used regular pipes, water pipes, or hookahs. Males had higher current use of any tobacco product, as did those aged >65 years; whites, blacks, and those of multiple races; individuals with annual household income of <$35,000; those with a General Educational Development Certificate; and those who were single, never married, not living with a partner, divorced, separated, or widowed. Current use of any tobacco product was 47.2 and 19.2% among adults with and without serious psychological distress, respectively.

"Proven population-level interventions that focus on the diversity of tobacco product use are important to reducing tobacco-related disease and death in the United States," the authors write.